Had I Known Then
by Violent Words
Summary: When Mike choses his rookie from NXT, he never thought Kevin would cause as much trouble as he ended up causing in Mike's life. But, he wants to help him...Something's happened to him, and Mike won't stand for anymore of it! Rated for later chapters


This literally popped into my head while I was doing a Miz/A-Ry video on Windows Movie Maker XD Before anyone asks, I don't have Youtube, so I can't post it when I'm done with it - which sucks.

Anyway, I don't own anyone mentioned, I'm just having fun at four in the morning, listening to my baby sister watching Miz being awesome like normal.

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><p><em>You're so hypnotising!<em>

_Could you be the devil?_

_Could you be an Angel?_

Katy Perry - E.T

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><p>When Mike Mizanin saw Kevin Kiley being lined up as the rookies for NXT Season 2, he was drawn to the man. He didn't understand it, but the mans sad blue eyes, his meek smile, and the way he held onto his wrist like he was afraid it would fall off made for a cute picture. John Hannigan, his ex boyfriend, instantly went for the biggest man in the line, Eli Cottonwood...Who came up with a name like that anyway?<p>

He walked over to where the blonde was hanging back from the crowd and nodded at him. "I'm..."

"The Miz...Who doesn't know who you are? You're..."

"Don't worry about that bull-shit. The Miz is in ring. I'm Mike here, and you can call me that...What's your name?" Mike smiled gently, as Kevin cracked his shy smile.

"Kevin Kiley...But call me Kevin Riley..."

"Why Riley?"

"Because...I like Riley better than Kiley." Kevin told him. "Kiley is a girls name, not my last name." He added quietly, and Mike smiled. "So you adapted your persona's last name into your real name?"

"...no, I legally changed it." Kevin said softly, and Mike felt very awkward very quickly. "Well...um. Sorry for being nosey. I'd like to take care of you." He flinched as the man before him physically recoiled at those words, before nodding.

"Okay then..." Kevin said meekly, and Mike turned and nodded towards Dusty Rhodes, who beamed at him, and came over, while Kevin went off to go grab his bag. Dusty pulled Mike close and whispered right by his ear, so no one else could hear.

"That boy has been through more than you know. You hurt him in any way, I'll kick your ass. Cody has come to accept him as a little brother, which makes him my son." Dusty let him go when Kevin came back, and wandered off like nothing had happened. Kevin tapped on his shoulder a few times before he realised it. He also noticed Kevin was two inches taller than him.

"You okay? Not having second thoughts?" And for a minute, Kevin looked terrified, until Mike shook his head gently.

"The Miz doesn't have second thoughts." He joked, and Kevin smiled, as Mike walked out with his new rookie. If he'd known then how much trouble Kevin Riley would cause in his life...he'd have still taken him in, then and there.

When they got back to the hotel, Mike unlocked the door with his new key. "Here we are...home sweet home for all of a week...maybe less." Mike said. Kevin looked around and sat down on the smaller of the two beds in the room, but Mike shook his head.

"That's my one...I can't sleep on a large bed, I end up tangled in the damned sheets." He explained to Kevin, who looked surprised, but moved his things, as he looked around the room.

"Never been anywhere as nice as this." He told Mike, who turned around to face him, only to find Kevin was looking around through his bag for something.

"What're you looking for?" Mike asked him, as Alex lay down on the bed and turned his head, something rested on his lap.

"I get nervous in new places." Kevin admitted quietly, as he popped what Mike noticed was gum into his mouth, and put the large container of it back in his bag. "Stops me from eating my knuckles off." He said, and Mike chuckled. "I've got a similar problems, I can't go without this..." Mike held up a bouncy ball "...or I dislocate my fingers...Ask...Morrison." Mike turned away, biting on his lip as he tried to decide what to cook.

"You have any allergies, Kevin?" He asked, and Kevin nodded. "Can't have too much tomato." He heard his new rookie answering from the bathroom, before he dashed back out.

"The bathroom's...really small." He heard Kevin choking out, and turned around to find his rookie having a very obvious panic attack. Mike carefully walked towards him, while Kevin tried to work out how to use his lungs when he started hyper-ventilating.

Mike reached behind him and took hold of the brown paper bags he'd taken out of the cupboard earlier in the day - he'd intended on baking something and storing them in there - and eased Kevin, as gently as he could, so he was sitting down.

"Here, breathe into this..." Mike told him carefully, sitting beside him and watching while Kevin settled himself down. It was half an hour before either of them spoke words that weren't Mike comforting Kevin.

"Claustrophobia?" Mike guessed, and Kevin nodded, a little ashamed, while Mike wet a cloth and brought it over and put it around Kevin's neck to help him cool down. Mike had also shut the bathroom door, so Kevin wouldn't have to think about it.

"Yeah...had it since da...daycare. Kids..." Kevin murmured, and Mike sat there, frowning gently. "You going to be okay? Do I need to call the ER or something?"

"No, no! I'm okay!" Kevin said, a little too quickly for Mike to be convinced, but he let it slide, not wanting to start it up again. Mike put a hand on Kevin's shoulder and jumped back. "You're really warm..."

"I normally am afterwards." Kevin said, eyes shut now, as he counted his breathing on his fingers. Mike watched as the digits moved slowly up and down, one at a time.

_One...two...three..._Mike found himself counting along with Kevin in his head, finding himself reminded briefly of helping his little sister while she got in a similar state.

"Want another cloth?" Mike asked, already easing off the bed, but Kevin's hand grabbed his arm, and he shook his head.

"Stay here." He said meekly, and Mike nodded, letting himself land again with a flop. "Anything I can do to help?" He asked quietly, and Kevin shook his head.

"Just...stay...I don't get why, but company helps." Kevin told him. Mike smiled at his rookie, until Kevin himself stood up. "I...I'm sorry." Kevin said shyly, and Mike only offered a friendly smile and a shrug. "It's okay, Kevin." Mike said softly, and Kevin looked genuinely surprised by the words.

"Whataya say to dinner, I'll buy?" Mike offered, and Kevin's response was to blush and look at his hands. "Um...thanks." Kevin said gently. "For...yeah."

Mike smiled. He figured it would take Alex a little while to warm up to him, but he didn't mind it. People always took a long time to warm up to strangers. He understood that. When he and John had first met, they'd practically avoided even walking within six feet of each other. But things had gotten better, and then...

John had cheated on him. With a girl, none the less. A snooty, stuck up, screaming, girl. He bit on his lip, and Kevin waved his hand in front of Mike's face.

"You sure The Miz has no second thoughts?"

"The Miz's first thoughts are too awesome to require follow-ups. C'mon, let's get out of here." Mike joked, and Kevin actually smiled, a very geniune smile.

_He has a nice smile..._Mike thought, as he and the blonde snuck out past the staff, and their fellow NXT competitors.

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><p>By the time the first episode of NXT rolled around, Kevin and Mike were closer than any pair on NXT. They'd gotten to know each other's problems, and how to help, and even just the smallest things that the other did. Like, when Kevin was happy, he always seemed to look to the left, and that when he got upset, his hands seemed to pay the price.<p>

Whenever Mike got frustrated, he drank a lot of tea, and whenever he was relaxed, he played with his, or Kevin's, hair.

As Kevin had discovered, Mike had an obsession with hair. He enjoyed it though, as long as Mike sat beside him, he didn't care what Mike did to the little hair he had. He was eager to grow it, but Management had told him he wasn't allowed to.

So, as they waited for the call to go out, they were sitting in Mike's locker room. Kevin found himself quite comfortable talking to Mike, who always seemed happy to give him advice, about anything. When they trained together, Mike was always very careful with him, as if he would break.

He was glad for it though, for reason's he promised himself he'd never tell Mike. Dusty Rhodes knew, but only through Cody. Cody had been the man who had gotten him into this. He'd seen what Kevin had to go through, and had wanted an escape for him.

Cody poked his head in and grinned at Kevin. "Hey, buddy. You guys, we're out in a minute." He told the two, and Mike nodded, patting Kevin's back, as he let the taller of them through the door first.

"Ready to wow the crowd?" He teased, and Kevin blushed. "I should hope so." he said, as Mike turned the 'Miz' switch on, just as they walked out.

_Right, Kevin...time to be Alex._

The other rookies all came out, and they started arguing, until Alex got what he thought was a good knock in on Kaval.

"I used to stuff guys like you in lockers in high school." He'd never mentioned HE was often the one being stuffed in lockers. The crowd laughed, and he beamed a little. _Awesome_

Miz sat on top of the ramp, while John and Eli had their match. John won for him, and started praising Eli, and Miz couldn't really take it. "He sucked!" Miz called into the microphone, causing a snicker from Kevin backstage. He had to admit. The 'Miz' side of Mike's personality was pretty funny when he wanted to be. He didn't wrestle tonight, but he did have an introductory package thingy, and he had to make an appearance, so he was stuck here.

When they came out to the ring, and Striker showed them the footage of the previous night's attack by the the last season of NXT rookies, Alex found himself amused once more. They thought that was bad! Should have been around the time his father had hung him up and beat him with a bat for two hours...

He shook the thought mentally out of his head, avoiding the tears that threatened to fall. _You're in a twenty foot ring, calm down...No spaces, you can hide if you have to..._

"Alex Riley, what do you think of that?" Striker asked him. Kevin sneezed unintentionally, before he found it funny, and sneezed again. "I'm sorry, I'm allergic to Striker." He knew by the grin on Mike's face that he thought it was funny.

"On behalf of everyone who was slaughtered last night on RAW, welcome to NXT!" The next thing ANY of the rookies knew, they were getting beaten down. Kevin started panicking, as he got closed in.

This kept going until the camera's went off, and Mike pulled him from the mess, trying to make it look rough. He helped his, now limping, rookie backstage and sat him down, taking a second to stare into his eyes. He seemed alright...

"You okay?" He asked, and Kevin nodded. Mike smiled, happy to hear it. "Good. I don't like it when you aren't alright." He'd known the man a week. WHEN did he turn into such a...girl? Hell, Melina was more masculine than he was most days...huh, that was why John had run off with her.

"Are YOU okay? You drift off really easily, Mike." Kevin said, a little worried. Mike nodded his head. "Sorry. I can't really keep my mind on one thing at a time." Mike found himself laughing, as Kevin started unlacing his boots and leaned back, kicking them off, and just lying there like that, feet dangling in the air, in his wrestling trunks, allowing himself a second to relax.

Mike, however, did not find this practice relaxing. If anything, he could feel his face, and much further down heating up. He instantly reached for the water bottle that was meant to be Kevin's and tossed back some of it, and even poured some over his hair.

"Gel coming out?" Kevin asked as he wiped the water off of himself. This didn't help Mike either. "...yeah..." Mike said, lamely, as Kevin sat upright and ran his hands back through Mike's hair, before frowning at it. "How do you get your hair like that every day, it's so stubborn!" He whined, and Mike shrugged.

"It is a talent, known only to The Awesome One." Kevin socked him with his jacket, which he was just taking off to get changed. Mike turned his back to allow Kevin SOME privacy.

"So tell me, oh Awesome One, will I learn that talent?" Kevin teased, and Mike snickered. "Don't know, ask the girls in make-up." Kevin laughed, leaving the rare smile on his face as he pulled on his shirt and buttoned it up, and Mike turned around, frowning at the badly tailored suit shirt.

"...Really? Really? Really, you expect to wear THAT in the Awesome One's presence? I think not...I'm taking you suit shopping. Off the rack, honestly..." He teased, and Kevin blushed. "Sort of...all I can afford." He murmured, and Mike rolled his eyes.

"Let me take care of your clothes, okay?" Mike made him promise. Kevin blushed again, but nodded his head to Mike. "Okay." He agreed. Mike smiled and reached a hand out for him. It was becoming almost a comforting gesture for Kevin.

Kevin took it and Mike squeezed his hand gently, before the two left the locker room, and crashed right into John and Eli. Eli was glaring right at Kevin, who shrunk nearly instantly into Mike's shoulder, and John had an equally displeased look on his face.

Before either had a clue what was going on, Eli had Kevin up by the throat, and Mike had been kicked straight in the stomach. Kevin thrashed a little, trying to get Eli to let him go, as a few tears fell from his eyes. John pressed a kiss to Eli's shoulder, and whispered in his ear. Eli's fingers tightened, and Mike stood up, for just long enough to kick Eli.

"HEY!" Cody Rhodes voice rang out, and soon John and Eli scammpered. Mike dashed to where Kevin had been dropped, and pulled him upright.

"Kevin..." He whispered, as Kevin sobbed, and choked every now and then. Husky Harris took watch, while the two mentors tried to help Kevin, without crowding him.

But Kevin's mind was elsewhere. All he could remember was that hand, so much like his fathers, holding him in place...

_Dad, STOP! _

His fifteen year old voice rang through his head and he clutched at his head, trying to shake it out. Cody looked around, and helped Mike get Kevin back into the locker room, and Husky shut the door, while Mike looked around Kevin's neck.

When the man finally calmed down, he could say three words.

"Don't touch me." He pleaded with them, and all hands drew back, but he clung to Mike's when the man went to pull away. "Not you!" He whined softly, and Cody snickered a little, before offering Kevin a tablet. "Here...dad said you'd left them."

"Thanks." Kevin swallowed the pill without water. Cody cast Mike a Look, which promised not only explanations, but violence. Mike rubbed Kevin's back gently, until Kevin felt ready to leave. But what Mike wanted to know, more than ever now, was what had happened to Kevin, and more about him in general.

He wasn't like the others.

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><p>End of chapter one. As I said - I never expected this to even happen. So, onwards I shall go, and hope someone reads this.<p> 


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